Steamboat Springs  Soroco High School football head coach David Bruner said his team took its first defeat, sustained last weekend in overtime at home against Justice, well.

“They are all upbeat, and I’m pleased,” he said.

How the squad handles another potential loss remains up in the air, however.

Rams sophomore quarterback Nic Paxton injured his hand in practice, thwacking his thumb on the helmet of one of his teammates as he threw a pass. He’s questionable for today’s 7 p.m. homecoming game in Oak Creek against Gilpin County.

If Paxton can’t go, senior Pie Lombardi is first up to replace him.

“He’s pretty confident in what he’s doing,” Bruner said about Lombardi.

Lombardi threw three passes last week on trick plays, one for a touchdown, one for an interception and one for an incompletion. He has served as a running back this season for the team, and Bruner said he could be quicker to use his feet than Paxton has been.

“Pie has more of a tendency to pull it down and run, and that’s OK. He’s a little better running that Nic,” Bruner said.

In Gilpin County, Soroco (4-1) finds a team it would seem to have an advantage against. The Eagles have struggled mightily early this season, having lost all five of their games. They most recently dropped a 54-16 game at Vail Christian. That 54-point explosion against the team has represented the norm. Only Longmont Christian failed to top 50 points against Gilpin County, and that was still a 49-12 ballgame.

But the Eagles have a strong quarterback in junior Kevin Robertson, who Bruner said will be hard to bring down.

“He runs well and throws well,” Bruner said. “They’re a little young up front, so we need to make sure we get through and get him down.”

Bruner’s squad faced a similar do-everything, hard-to-tackle threat last week in Justice’s Iaian McGhee, and the team contained him until a 10-yard touchdown run put the game away in overtime.

It will take a similar defensive attack to stop the Eagles.

“Going into the year, we took a lot of pride in our defense, and they’re still confident that we’re good enough on that side of the ball to give our team a chance,” Bruner said. “We’re pretty confident in our game plan, and the kids have really worked hard.

“If we can contain that quarterback, we’ll be OK.”

The football game will be preceded by the homecoming volleyball match. The varsity team is set to play at 4:30 p.m. against Vail Christian.

The homecoming king and queen will be crowned during halftime of the football game.